Mosaic Chainmaille Bracelet

I have some jewelry that I never photographed before, so I'm doing it now along with adding them to my Dawanda store.

Here is a sterling silver mosaic bracelet using a variation on the European 4 in 1 weave.

Back To Work Bronze Bracelet - Sort Of

About a week ago I ordered from Beadsisters in the UK a kit for a bracelet weave called Clockwork. The rings were bronze and bright aluminum. The kit arrived and I made the bracelet within the day. It was very easy to do and fun as well. Here is what it looks like on my wrist:

Once I made it, I figured I would re-create it in sterling silver and bronze (personally I don't like aluminum except for learning a weave, plus I had a request from someone to make it using sterling silver). I cut my rings based on the specifications in the kit and got to work.

To my major surprise nothing matched, the bracelet was a bust. It turns out that since the weave creator didn't mention the type of wire gauge (AWG or SWG), I automatically assumed one of the two and of course, it was not that. Even worse, sterling silver has a different thickness compared to say bronze, so the same gauge (e.g. 18 gauge) is not the same in the two wire materials.

Sadly also mixing sterling with bronze won't work either, because the sizes simply don't match (AWG 18 gauge is not the same with SWG 16 gauge(. So here I am with a bunch of cut jumprings (some sterling silver too, which are not cheap, mind you) and can't make the bracelet again - not unless I use same color rings - which would really detract from the beauty of the wave, since it's really gorgeous in two colors, right?

Having all these jumprings in my stash, I did what some people in the chain maille group called 'lemonade from sour lemons'. I made a new bracelet, which apparently is called Back to Work (I did it from the image of an existing bracelet, not from a tutorial, before I found out what its name is).

So here is my today's lemonade...Back To Work bracelet in bronze. It's really light and fun to wear. I'll make it again, next time in sterling silver.

Tiny Silver Rosette Earrings

I made this pair of silver earrings last night. I've been having conversations with friends who are rather fond of tiny earrings instead of the longer dangling ones, so I've decided to play around with a few ideas. This is really the tiniest I've ever made, with the length not much more than 1.5 cm. To really keep them very small I used earring post backs with a little silver nut to keep them from slipping from the ear.

The design is based on the popular moebius chainmaille weave, where I've doubled up all the rings for this little rosette design. The last picture is not very sharp, I just wanted to show how tiny they are in my hand.

YOJ 2013 - Week 16 - Something Hidden

Here is my entry for the week 15 at the YOJ project group for 2013. The bracelet is a mix of chain maille and soldering. All sterling silver and all rings hand cut with the jeweler's saw. The bracelet measures 18 cm (7") and the chain maille weave is called Orbital Vipera Berus. Very light bracelet and fun to wear.

I named the bracelet Oriana as it reminds me of a highschool colleague of mine from way back - back at home.

YOJ Week 15 - Fibonacci Sequence

Here is my piece for the YOJ week 15 project, with the theme Fibonacci sequence. Well, for this week I chose to honor Leonardo Fibonacci, who as the son of a merchant had free access to the whole Byzantine empire, so he could go to established centers around Europe to study. So this week's theme is for him.

The necklace is quite dense, it is a graduated Byzantine in sterling silver. All jump rings have been cut by hand with a jeweler's saw. The rings range from gauges 14 to 19 (1.2mm to 0.9mm) in various sizes and aspect ratios to get the graduated effect. I love this one, but boy it's expensive to create something major like this in sterling silver...it eats rings like a hungry pet!

Meaasures 18.5 inches (46 cm) including the sterling silver clasp. Simply beautiful!

Megara Bracelet In Copper

This chain maille bracelet was made as part of the April challenge in the Chain Maille Facebook group. The theme was a Byzantine weave/variation that was not posted for this challenge by anyone else. I found the Megara weave at the Maille Artisans site and it had a tutorial as well, all made by Corvus. A very easy to do bracelet, and it's awesome on the wrist, so lush, fluffy and light.

Made with copper and bronze rings (large rings bronze, small ones copper).

YOJ Week 7 - Off The Cuff

The project for the 7th week in the Year of Wire Jewelry 2013 is called Off the Cuff. Now I'm not good with cuffs and bangles at all, and I've made quite a few chain maille bracelets so far, so I've decided my theme for the week to be 'off the cuff and on the neck' - a necklace.

Earlier this week I made my first JPL necklace (Jens Pind Linkage chain maille weave), and I've been thinking for a few days what pendant to make for it. Finally I've decided that a simple wire wrapped pendant with a few chain maille elements should mattch quite well with it.  The necklace is made of a mixture of bronze and copper wire - bronze for the chain maille part and the pendant frame and copper for the wrapping part.

What do you think, do they go together?

Silver Heart Pendant

This tiny sterling silver heart pendant in byzantine weave was made for two challenges: the February challenge in the Chain Maille Facebook group (heart or armour) and the 6th week of YOJ project with the title "Embrace".

It is really tiny, it measures 2.5cm (about 1") in length including the bail and 2cm (less than 1") at its widest point. It's very cute and I can imagine it on a thin chain or a short leather as a choker. Perfect when you want something cute, discrete that enhances, rather than takes away from the beauty of the dress or neckline.

Square Knot Bracelet In Bronze

Sterling silver is quite expensive, so I've decided to experiment in other materials that are not only cheaper, but also quite cool actually. This piece was made in bronze and it's called Square knot based on the B2 weave. It's quite fun to do and awesome to wear. I love how is rather loose on the wrist and kind of fluffy. Now try to do this heavy one in sterling silver!

The clasp is an antiqued bronze square clasp. Not sure yet if I'll keep it. The color is a bit off compared to the bracelet, but it does make a nice contrast. Bracelet measures 19.5cm (almost 8") and it's made of 4.4 AR various size bronze rings (bought from TheRingLord).

Byzantine Wrapped Earrings

A quick pair of sterling silver earrings done in the chain maille Byzantine weave. The beads are amethyst with a very lovely color. Earrings length including the ear wire is 6.5 cm (2.5"). All metal, including the ear wire is sterling silver.

For wrapping the bead in the semi-herringbone weave I used a free tutorial by Heidi K. (link to her tutorial is in my Best free 4 herringbone weave tutorials post, reachable from the sidebar of this blog.)

Gothic Silver Chain Maille Pendant - YOJ Week 5

This silver pendant is made for the YOJ Week 5 challenge with the theme 'deja-vu', aka before and after. About 4 years ago when I dabbed a bit in chain maille, I made a Rondo a la Byzantine pendant with a goldstone bead wrapped at the bottom. I never really did anything with it afterwards, and I left it forgotten for 4 years.

Now looking at some of my older pieces to work up for the challenge, I found it tucked in a ziplock bag.

So here is the before and after. Bad picture quality for the before as I only snapped quickly a shot of it in the evening so I have something to show for the challenge.

The new piece has a smaller black onyx wrapped bead. All metal is sterling silver that I cut in jumprings.

Byzantine Knot Silver Bracelet

Here is a bracelet I finished last night. Tumble polished it and took pictures of it today. It's a weave that I learned, I saw a bracelet just like it and was curious as to how they did it. Found the weave at Mailleartisans, and here is the result.

I quite like it, however personally I like daintier chains than this. However when worn is quite beautiful indeed.

The rings I cut have these stats: 0.9mm 4.27 ID, with an AR of 4.74 (this is just for me really, if I want to do another one, to use this as reference). The bracelet measures 19.5cm (7.5") including the lovely silver heart clasp which I bought from Etsy from a wonderful seller a while ago.

Note: the Byzantine Knots weave was invented by Christian Dietrich) and if anyone wants to learn this weave, there is a also nice tutorial by Zili on Mailleartisans.

My First Full Persian Cross

I was always jealous of folks who could do the Full Persian cross, and I couldn't because the full persian weave always eluded me. Well, not anymore. I've learned the weave from Spider's DVD and then went off and learn the cross from a tutorial from Mailleartisans, I think. Now that I know the weave, making the cross is extremely easy, I might add.

Used some practice jump rings from The Ring Lord, so the closures are not the best. The next one is in silver.

Butterfly Earrings - YOJ Week 4 Project

Here is my 4th week Year of Jewelry 2013 project, with the them "Not from the Mall". When I started this pair of earrings I only knew I wanted to do the butterfly weave, but I had no idea how they will turn out. I used at least 3 different ring sizes, and finally decided on the turquoise briolette.

Speaking of the briolette, this is also a good example how to cheat when you can't wrap a briolette worth beawns (that is me). After all these years, wrapping a briolette the right way eludes me. I've watched countless Youtube videos, looked at various tutorials, nothing helped. So I've settled on a bit of cheating. And to be honest, I kind of like the result.

Still have to tumble the earrings as the silver jumping are not quite shiny yet. I hope I won't destroy the turquoise in the process.